Why Trauma-Informed Training Matters in the Legal Profession

By Debbie Stiesmeyer, Client Advocate and Investigator, Gomez Trial Attorneys

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Recent changes in California law have created new opportunities for adult survivors of sexual assault to pursue civil claims that may have previously been barred. These changes can reopen the courthouse doors for survivors who believed too much time had passed. But what survivors encounter after they step through those doors matters just as much. For many survivors, contacting a law firm may be the first time they have shared what happened outside a trusted personal relationship. Others may have told their story repeatedly, to law enforcement, medical professionals, advocates, investigators, or prior counsel, and found that each retelling carries its own emotional cost.

Trauma-informed training helps legal professionals recognize that the way we communicate can either support a survivor's sense of safety and control or unintentionally add to the harm they have already experienced. Trauma-informed practice does not mean avoiding difficult questions, lowering professional standards, or promising a particular outcome. It means understanding how trauma can affect memory, communication, trust, decision-making, and engagement in the legal process.

A client may remember events in fragments, need additional time to answer, become overwhelmed by an unexpected question, or struggle with repeated requests. These reactions should not automatically be mistaken for indifference, evasiveness, or a lack of credibility. That understanding matters across every practice area, not only in cases involving sexual assault or trafficking. Clients may come to a firm after workplace harassment, discrimination, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, abuse, or another life-altering event. Even a seemingly routine legal matter can involve fear, grief, financial instability, or past trauma. Firms cannot always know what a client has experienced before seeking representation.

A trauma-informed approach therefore benefits every client while helping legal professionals avoid making assumptions about behavior or communication. This broader awareness can strengthen trust, improve communication, and help clients remain engaged throughout an unfamiliar and often stressful process. It is also important at every level of a firm.

A client's experience may include the receptionist answering the first call, the intake specialist asking sensitive questions, the legal assistant requesting records, the investigator conducting an interview, and the trial team preparing the client for deposition, mediation, or court. Every interaction can influence whether that person feels respected, informed, and able to participate in the process. Training gives legal teams practical tools: explaining why sensitive information is needed, asking permission before difficult topics, offering choices when possible, allowing reasonable breaks, avoiding judgmental language, and clearly describing what comes next.

Trauma-informed communication is not about treating clients as fragile. It preserves dignity and reduces unnecessary loss of control while allowing the legal team to gather the information needed to advocate effectively. At Gomez Trial Attorneys, we are expanding this work through internal training. Team members who work with survivors of hotel sex trafficking have participated in focused instruction on recognizing common trauma responses, pacing difficult conversations, providing choices, and avoiding language that may cause shame or feel blaming. The training also emphasizes consistency, follow-through, and preparation before asking a survivor to revisit painful details.

The firm is now building on that foundation by collaborating with a highly qualified professional experienced in trauma-informed care, survivor support, and human trafficking. Together, we are developing an upcoming firmwide training course for all employees, offered in person and virtually. The goal is to give the entire team a shared foundation in trauma-informed principles and practical tools they can apply in every practice area. More specialized instruction will then help teams adapt those principles to the needs of clients and case types they serve. This work matters because the civil justice system asks a great deal of survivors. It may require them to recount deeply personal experiences, produce private records, respond to challenges to their credibility, sit for deposition, attend mediation, and wait months or years for resolution.

Legal professionals cannot remove every difficult part of that process. We can, however, be intentional about the parts within our control. Expanding access to justice gives survivors another opportunity to come forward and be heard in their own time. Trauma-informed legal practice carries that principle forward. Opening the courthouse door is essential. Making sure survivors are met with understanding, preparation, and respect once they enter is part of our responsibility, too.

Debbie Stiesmeyer is a Client Advocate and Investigator at Gomez Trial Attorneys in San Diego. A former law enforcement officer and credentialed survivor advocate, she supports clients navigating the civil legal process and helps advance trauma-informed practices within the firm.

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SOURCE Gomez Trial Attorneys